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Fruit Punch
Fruit Punch is an upcoming puzzle-platform adventure game for the Nymbus, set to release as a launch title alongside the console in November of 2018. It was first unveiled in a Button Studios Direct on August 1st 2018, although details about the game didn't surface until September of that year. The game follows the playable main protagonist, Punch, as he goes on a quest through Vegetable Ridge to save his sister, Cordia, after she is kidnapped from their home by Dr. Vegtebloid. Fruit Punch is unique in that it is the first original title developed for the Nymbus as well as being the first original IP released by Button Studios. As the name implies, the world of Fruit Punch is filled with fruit and vegetable creatures, with almost all of the main characters, enemies and antagonists being based on fruits, vegetables or plants. Even the collectible items found in every level are fruits. The game is targetted towards a children's demographic, hence the colorful graphics and bubbly personalities of the characters. However, the game's later puzzles can prove to be a real challenge, with precise timing, problem solving and reactions needed to complete the game to its entirety. Plot Punch and Cordia are in their home in Fruit Forest, a woodland on top of a cliff, about to feast on some cake. However, the two notice the ground shaking, and dust and debris begin to fall from the ceiling as a giant mechanical arm breaks through the roof into the room, grabbing Cordia before getting away. Punch goes outside to see a huge robot being piloted by Dr. Vegtebloid, who throws Cordia into a cage. Punch chases after Vegtebloid's robot, only to be spotted while climbing up the robot's back. The mechanical arm picks up Punch, throwing him over the edge of the cliff into the forest below. Vegtebloid laughs as Punch falls, and he heads off to his castle, with Cordia imprisoned in the robot. Punch is woken up by a little bird by the name of Kiwi, who tells him that Dr. Vegtebloid got away, and is headed for his laboratory on the other side of Vegetable Ridge. Kiwi talks the player through the game basics in a short tutorial level, before they split up from each other. The player can now access the world map and the levels within Fruit Forest. To advance through the forest, Punch must find 8 Golden Seeds in each level. At the end of the world, he must face a boss. After navigating through five worlds, Punch makes it to Dr. Vegtebloid's Lab, where he must stealthily infiltrate the castle. Eventually, he reaches the prison, where Cordia has been imprisoned. He frees her, but shortly after, Dr. Vegtebloid's security cameras notice him. Vegtebloid enters the room and the roof opens up. He climbs into his robot to duel against Punch, who must use all of his skills to defeat Vegtebloid. With Cordia's help, Vegtebloid is defeated. His robot explodes, launching the evil scientist into space, never to be seen again. Punch and Cordia rejoice together as the game ends. Gameplay Overview ''Fruit Punch is a 2D platforming game with puzzle elements, which functions similarly to games such as New Super Mario Bros. during levels. All levels are filled with Seeds, which are the game's low-value currency, used to purchase hints, items and more. In Fruit Punch, there is less of a focus on platforming and more of a focus on solving puzzles, and using the surrounding environment and elements within it to reveal the locations of Golden Seeds and help him reach them. Eight of these Golden Seeds are present in every level, and Punch cannot progress to the next level until they are all found. Similarly, Sparkleberries can be found in every level. Unlike Golden Seeds, however, Sparkleberries are not compulsory to obtain and are instead optional, usually being in much harder-to-find locations than Golden Seeds. With the Sparkleberries that they collect, the player can access hidden levels and shortcuts through the world. Punch has a small array of stats that are visible at all times, which are Juice, Health, Air, Combo. *'Juice' - This is the main stat that the player should keep their eye on. Punch has 200 JP (Juice Points), which deplete at a rate of roughly 1 per second. Juice can be replenished by entering water, defeating enemies and collecting items, but dire consequences take place when Juice runs low. At 50 JP, Punch loses the ability to dash, and at 25 JP, he loses all of his abilities. Once at 0 JP, Punch will begin taking damage at a slowly increasing rate. *'Health' - Punch begins the game with 3 Hearts, or 9 hit points, with each "Heart" being made up of 3 hit points. If Punch loses all of his hearts, by taking damage from enemies, obstacles, or other stats being depleted, the player is shown a 'Game Over' message, and they must restart from the beginning of the level, regardless of how many Golden Seeds they have collected there. *'Air' - In some levels, the player must go underwater. When entering water, Punch's air meter will appear, showing how long he has left underwater before he begins taking damage. The air meter takes roughly 20 seconds to deplete fully, though this time can be extended with items such as the Diver's Helmet. *'Combo' - Punch earns combo points by defeating enemies consecutively. The amount of combo points the player earns from defeating an enemy goes by the formula n-1. So for 2 enemies defeated in a row, Punch gains 1 point, for 3 enemies defeated in a row, Punch gains 2 points and so on. When Punch reaches 100 Combo Points, he will become invincible for a short period of time, and the locations of Golden Berries will be temporarily revealed on the level map. Throughout levels, the player can find many contraptions that can either help or hinder their progess in collecting Golden Seeds. An example is the Cocannon, which, when Punch hops into it, fires him out, allowing him to smash through walls with the velocity he gains. Something else that Punch will encounter in levels is enemies, which appear in almost every level. Enemies have their own health, which is visible when they are nearby, and to defeat an enemy, Punch must deplete its HP by jumping on it, or using an ability. However, some foes have special means of being defeated such as the Melonmouth, which can only be defeated by crushing it with a Cocoboulder. At the end of some levels, Punch must face a boss enemy. Most bosses in Fruit Punch are larger, tougher variations of regular enemies, which are defeated by using a combination of certain abilities to expose a weak point. The solutions to defeating bosses may not be obvious at first, so it is wise to use different abilities on the foe to see their effects. Progression The world map is split between 6 Zones, which the player can travels through in a set order. Each zone is made up of 8-16 levels, with several more bonus levels and challenge levels intertwined with the main levels. In order to progress to the next level, Punch needs to collect 8 Golden Seeds from the current level. The non-mandatory bonus levels and challenge levels are accessed by collecting and spending Sparkleberries that are found in the regular levels. These levels also contain Golden Seeds and Sparkleberries, which can be used to unlock other levels in other zones. While in a level, the player has access to the level map, which shows the locations of enemies and contraptions in the level. The main use of the level map is to prevent the player from getting lost, particularly in the game's larger levels, and to reveal the locations of Golden Seeds when Punch fills out his Combo Meter. Furthermore, Punch can find several buildings across the world where he will receive help from a friend, such as; *'Kiwi Dojo' - Here, Kiwi will train Punch for a small seed fee, improving his abilities slightly. Each ability can be improved three times, with the costs being 50 Seeds, 100 Seeds and 200 Seeds for each training session. *'Starfresh Smoothies' - At this classy juice bar, Punch can purchase smoothies and other beverages from Citria. These drinks cost roughly 100-150 Seeds each, and they give Punch boosts such as making him faster, improving his jump or increasing the power of his attacks. *'Badges Emporium' - Punch's elderly grandmother, Flanna, will sell handcrafted Badges to Punch. Alternatively, she will give him free Badges if he can locate her lost possessions across the world, such as her glasses, necklace, etc. Badges are a key mechanic in Fruit Punch, which essentially give Punch permanent boosts as long as he has the Patch equipped. *'Peanut's Social Club' - At a low entry fee of 50 Seeds, Punch can visit Peanut's Social Club, where he can meet up with Peanut, the club's owner, and several other members, to receive hints about gameplay and Golden Seed/Sparkleberry locations in levels. Controls Aside from his aforementioned special abilities, Punch has some basic moves that can be used at any time, and do not need to be unlocked. These are marked in white, while his special abilities that must be unlocked at marked in : * - Move (left or right) * - Crouch * - Interaction * - Jump * - Seed Popper * - Dash * - Open Menu * * * * - Quick Heal * * * - Home Abilities The main playable character, Punch, has 8 different abilities which are unlocked at different points throughout the game. These abilities are essential to solving puzzles and finding Golden Seeds, and some enemies can only be defeated by using an ability on them. Punch starts the game with only the Seed Popper ability available, but more are unlocked in levels. Game Modes In addition to the main adventure mode, Fruit Punch is jam-packed with alternative game modes for both single player and multiplayer. These game modes are available under the 'Fun & Games' section on the title screen. *'Adventure' - The player goes through 6 Worlds, fighting enemies and solving puzzles, to save Punch's sister from Dr. Vegtebloid. *'Punch Bowl' - Two players on local or online multiplayer can fight against each other while using Punch's abilities. One player takes control of Punch, and another uses his alternately-colored lookalike. Players begin with 10 Hearts (30 Hit Points) and whichever player depletes the other's first wins. *'Fruit Crush' - Your typical tile-matching game, but this time it's all fruits, and Punch is here to help out! Match up the colored slices of fruit by swapping tiles to earn Seeds and other prizes for your game. There are over 200 levels in this mode, each getting progressively more difficult. *'Time Attack' - Play through levels from the main campaign, but under time restrictions. The player has access to the Bronze, Silver and Gold Trophies to start with (these are unlocked by beating increasingly difficult level completion times). Once all three are earned, the Platinum Trophy becomes available, with a super difficult time challenge. Characters Main Characters Lead developer, Thepuddlecat, stated that he wanted to keep characters to a minimum to keep the story and gameplay simple. As such, there are only a handful of unique characters in this game. Enemies Enemies play a large role in the levels of Fruit Punch. For the most part, they exist to hinder Punch as he tries to solve puzzles and find Golden Seeds. However, some enemies have exclusive abilities and the player needs to utilise their skills in order to collect all of the seeds. Worlds & Setting Fruit Punch takes place entirely within Vegetable Ridge, a country on a plateau on an unknown planet. While playing through the game, the player will go through 6 different worlds, all of which have levels within. Each world has a different theme, which dictates the style of the puzzles, enemies and aesthetics in the levels. Items Badges Badges are a special type of equippable item in Fruit Punch. In the main menu, the player can equip up to four Badges to Punch, and by equipping one, the effects listed in the Badge's description are applied. Badge effects can stack, so if the player has two badges that increase movement speed by 10%, the overall boost will be 20%. Badges are obtained in three ways; *Most badges can be purchased from Badge Emporium stores around the world. Badge Emporium stores in later worlds often have better badges. *Sometimes, Punch can obtain a badge from a treasure chest in a level. *Some amiibo unlock exclusive badges. Version History Fruit Punch has seen several updates following its release in November 2018. Button Studios have stated that they wish to continue to update the game for many more months, regularly adding content to keep players entertained. Version 1.0.1 (Released on November 18th 2018) On launch day, a patch was added which added several bug fixes, including a game-breaking one in which Punch could become stuck between two mechanisms on the fourth level of Parsnip Peak. Version 1.1.0 (Released on November 28th 2018) Following the release of Smash Galaxy: Star Bright, Star Fight, an update was released for Fruit Punch which included some crossover content from that game. *Two bonus levels were added to each world. In these levels, Punch can ride on his Pearoplane through the skies, shooting down enemies and collecting Golden Seeds. His vehicle has more health than he does, but it moves extremely quickly. *Amiibo compatibility was added for most of the amiibo in the Super Smash Bros. series. Scanning an amiibo would always reward a badge, with some amiibo even having exclusive badges. Gallery See full article: Fruit Punch/Gallery Fruit Punch.png|The game's logo. Fruit_Punch_Punch.png|Punch Fruit_Punch_Punch2.png|Alternate artwork for Punch. (1) Fruit_Punch_Punch3.png|Alternate artwork for Punch. (2) Fruit Punch Cordia.png|Cordia Fruit Punch Vegtebloid.png|Dr. Vegtebloid Dr._Vegtebloid2.png|Dr. Vegtebloid inside his robotic contraption, The Blender. Fruit Punch Kiwi.png|Kiwi Kiwi2.png|Alternate artwork for Kiwi. Punch_Alternate.png|Punch's alternate color scheme from Punch Bowl mode. Fruit_Punch_cartridge.png|Nymbus game cartridge. Trivia *''Fruit Punch'' is the first original title released by Button Studios. *In the September 2018 Button Studios Direct, a limited edition model of the Nymbus was shown, with a red-green color palette. This model will be available in a bundle with Fruit Punch pre-installed on the system, and a Punch keychain. *The Blushroom enemy is possibly based on the Tsunderplane enemy from the 2015 Indie Game, Undertale. *Lead developer, Puddle, stated that he is not thinking about creating a sequel to the game. However, if he has a good idea, and the first game proves to be successful, he may consider it. Out of the four characters in this game so far, which is your favorite? Punch Cordia Dr. Vegtebloid Kiwi Category:Button Studios Games Category:Puzzle Games Category:Platforming Games Category:Nymbus Games Category:Launch Titles Category:Original Games Category:Fan Games Category:Adventure Games Category:2018 Category:Puddle's Stuff Category:Fruit Punch